Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.

I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
Oh like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

3 comments:

I have recently discovered this blog by googling something about the "Prodigal Son" and finding one earlier post about this subject in here...about which I would like to say that it was very helpful for me.

As a coincidence, I was thinking about another song of Mr. Leonard Cohen earlier today, the darker "Stranger". The songs of this artist will always be inextricably linked to my late adolescence, since it was then that a former love interest of mine recommended to me that I buy one of Mr. Cohen's albums !

Being totally tone deaf myself, I have had a rather indifferent relationship with music, and being somewhat more of a concrete thinker than an abstract one, a rather uneasy, avoidance type, relationship with poetry...but one cannot help but get one's antennas raised when someone one is interested in (romantically or otherwise) recommends to you a specific musical & lyrical artist ! I think I was way too young and totally life + education inexperienced back then to actually appreciate Mr. Cohen, although I will not blame him for the subsequent failure of that sppecific romantic relationship in my life !

Back on topic...I was a bit surprised about the choice of "A Bird on a Wire" for the American & Canadian Labor Day holiday...was it a political comment-message of sorts, something about the current temporary precarious state of the economy and its social implications perhaps ? I would actually be curious to hear more about it if it was so.

I myself tend to be more romantic when I communicate with or about America, while Canada is a total unknown to me...sort of similar to the way I now feel, auto-exiled in utopian Scandinavia, where I have transplanted myself for purely selfish economic reasons for less than a year, and am actually living the cultural shock of my life !

To me, this song of Mr. Cohen was always associated in my mind more with Mr. Jiri Menzel's movie, "Larks on a String" (also 1969).

Yes ! You may not realize it, but I am now formulating the conclusion that reading more on your blog and also trying to learn more about Canadian society & politics may actually be quite helpful to me as I am trying to understand more about these new surroundings of mine found way above the 45th parallel of the Earth !

I will make a confession to you...(Mr. Leonard Cohen does this to me every time !)...I have added your blog in my blogroll and nicknamed it "Commodore Perry" ! I hope you don't mind, I like to nickname some of the bloggers from my blogroll, and I thought about the real explorer Commodorre Perry that opened the way to understanding how to trade with Japan for the United States in the XIX-the century. Since Norway is a bit like Japan for me actually now, maybe trying to understand it through a Canadian made telescope, (IF I manage to learn to use one of those !), could help me better in my own personal transactions with it !

This is as metaphorical as I can or will get, since I totally lack artistic creativity ! I promise not to do it very often, because, actually, whenever I communicate online, I am perpetually afraid I might inadvertently or unthoughfully offend most of the ambassadors of the various countries situated above the Tropic of Cancer, and I thus try to be very concrete and avoid metaphors as much as possible !

Thank you for your comments. Yes, we are living in precarious economic times, and for many, it's a balancing act. Of course, the song has a more romantic meaning, which is the way Leonard Cohen likes things. I have many readers from Scandinavian nations, but I am not sure if that has to do with geography or sharing similar sentiments about human dignity. I hope that you continue reading

All comments ought to reflect the post in question. All comments are moderated; and inappropriate comments, including those that attack persons, those that use profanity and those that are hateful, will not be tolerated. So, keep it on target, clean and thoughtful. This is not a forum for personal vendettas or to create a toxic environment. The chief idea is to engage, to discuss and to critique issues. Doing so within acceptable norms will make the process more rewarding and healthy for everyone.﻿ Accordingly, anonymous comments will not be posted.

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Yiddish Sites (listed since August 2017)

The Internet has dozens of sites dedicated to Yiddish language, culture and music. Here are some that I have found noteworthy. I will add to the list regularly. If you have a Yiddish site or know of one, please contact me:

Yiddish Book Center, dedicated to rescuing, translating, and disseminating Yiddish books and presenting innovative educational programs that broaden understanding of modern Jewish identity;

Yiddishkayt, a site based in Los Angeles that believes that yiddishkayt—the culture, language, art, and worldviews of Eastern European Jews, as they lived in Europe and in the places they settled—has a crucial role to play in our world today;

Yiddish Playscripts, a resource of the U.S. Library of Congress that contains 77 unpublished manuscripts of Yiddish theatre;

Yiddish Poetry, Yiddish poetry with translations in several languages; based in Melbourne, Australia;